Like most websites Channel 4 uses cookies. In order to deliver a personalised, responsive service and to improve the site, we remember and store information about how you use it. This is done using simple text files called cookies which sit on your computer. These cookies are completely safe and secure and will never contain any sensitive information. They are used only by Channel 4 or the trusted partners we work with. How to manage cookies

In order to deliver an optimised service, Channel 4 uses cookies. These are simple text files which sit on your computer, and are only used by us and our trusted partners. To find out about managing cookies, please see our Cookies Policy.

Unite union representatives are to meet local chapters over the next few days to discuss industrial action against the industry, which Unite describes as "unstable and fragmented."

"These votes send a clear message throughout the industry and should prompt all the major companies to get around the table to establish minimum standards," Diana Holland, Unite Assistant General Secretary, said.

"This is not about pay. This is about ensuring that high safety and training standards," Holland said.

More than 61.1 per cent of workers at seven firms voted. Drivers at Wincanton, Hoyer, BP, Norbert Dentressangle and Turners approved strike action. Drivers at two other centres, J.W Suckling and DHL, voted against striking.

Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude, referring to the fuel delivery crisis of 12 years ago (see photo to the right), said ministers had "learnt the lessons" of the past, and that police may also be drafted in to break up blockades and keep Britain moving.

The dispute over safety standards could shut thousands of petrol stations. Unite drivers supply fuel to 90 per cent of the UK's forecourts and the union said a strike could close thousands of petrol stations. A four-day strike by Royal Dutch Shell drivers in 2008 blocked fuel deliveries to almost 10 per cent of the UK's filling stations.

"The government should get a grip and show that it understands the gravity of current situation," Jon Trickett, Labour's Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office, said. "They should immediately insist that both sides begin negotiations."